IN FIVE years Scotland has undergone a dramatic transformation in how it treats its waste.
In 2001, recycling was a tokenistic, fringe activity, with just 5 per cent of household waste used to make something else.
But by last year this had jumped to a quarter of our domestic detritus. By 2020 it should be up to 50 per cent.
A surve
y by the Scottish Waste Awareness Group (SWAG) shows 81 per cent of Scots now recycle at least some waste.
But there are also signs that efforts to increase recycling are starting to meet resistance.
In East Dunbartonshire, the Liberal Democrat group was massacred in May's council election after introducing a bin collection regime designed to promote it.
Elsewhere, fortnightly collections of mixed waste with recyclable goods picked up every other week have been introduced without much trouble, but the people in East Dunbartonshire complained bitterly about waste piling up and attracting rats. Some 7,000 people signed a petition in protest.
There have also been complaints about charges for businesses to dump waste and charges imposed by some councils to collect large items of domestic rubbish.
And this could be just a taste of the furore that could be expected if a "bin tax" was introduced - in which people would be charged perhaps 50p a kilogram for rubbish that cannot be recycled - or if fines of hundreds of pounds were brought in for those who fail to separate waste for recycling properly.
Financial incentives really do work: the Flanders region of Belgium saw recycling rates soar from 20 to 70 per cent after a bin tax scheme was brought in.
Ross Finnie, Scotland's former environment minister, was seriously considering the idea when he was in office, but the SNP administration appears less keen, saying it has no plans to impose charges, although it continues to monitor various ideas.
Roseanna Cunningham, the Nationalist MSP and convener of the Scottish Parliament's environment committee, said ways of improving recycling were becoming a "huge issue".
"Decisions are being made for all the right reasons, but the knock-on effect on ordinary people can be quite enormous," she said.
"Most of the proposals to deal with the problem seem to end up making it more problematic for people to deal with waste rather than easier.
"One of the issues I think folk struggle with a lot is the extent to which councils want to roll back on pick-ups and make greater charges for things. To a certain extent, there is a sense of wanting to do the right thing, but then ending up doing it in a way that creates a bigger problem than the one we are trying to tackle and that ends up with rubbish lying around the streets or fly-tipping. Somebody has to clear that up anyway and where does that take us?"
The rapid rise in recycling rates, which went up by an average of 5 percentage points a year between 2001 and 2005, has prompted concern that the pace of progress could falter.
But Ken Morin, commercial director of the environment centre at Glasgow Caledonian University, which has studied the market for recycled materials, said: "There is no evidence of a stall. Initially recycling systems have rightly focused on the high value and easily diverted materials such as paper, glass, cans, plastics and green garden waste.
"To make the next step, we will need to focus on more problematic wastes such as food, which will require investment in new collection systems, investment in treatment technology and continuing support from the general public in terms of time and commitment to recycling and waste minimisation."
He said there were currently "adequate markets" for our recycled materials, but added:
"We need to establish recyclates as a valued commodity and not consign them to a market of perceived lower quality goods."
The best recycling rate in Scotland was achieved by Clackmannanshire Council, where more than 41 per cent of household waste was recycled.
However, Ewart McAuslane, head of environmental services at the authority, said he believed this would not increase until the council was able to add a third bin to the two bins and a box currently used by households. Further increases would only follow with the introduction of new machines to sort mixed waste.
He also believed that as rates got higher, there would eventually have to be financial incentives to recycle, such as charges to take away large amounts of mixed waste.
"I suspect as targets get harder, they will need to look at things like that. Inevitably there are people who simply will not adhere to the correct practices ... there always are and you need some form of control," Mr McAuslane said.
But politicians are clearly concerned that East Dunbartonshire is a sign that a backlash against recycling could be just round the corner.
Ms Cunningham said: "It behoves everybody to consider if there aren't better ways of achieving the same results. If ordinary people feel very hard done to, they do have a weapon in their hands: a vote."
The shop that turns what once was waste into a retail opportunity
WHEN Professor James Curran gave up his "cushy job" at Scotland's environmental watchdog, he knew he was taking a big risk.
Although neither he nor his wife, Artemis (pictured above), had any experience of the retail trade, both believed passionately they could help save the planet through the power of shopping.
Prof Curran turned his back on his role as head of environmental strategy at the Scottish Environment Protection Agency to set up Entrading, specialising in recycled products, in West Regent Street, Glasgow.
His wife also quit her job as a health service psychologist to pursue their dream of helping to achieve a fundamental change in society, to convince people that they really do want to buy recycled goods.
"That's genuinely what I believe. It's the reason my wife and I gave up our nice, cushy jobs," he said. "I believe that in 20 years' time, more or less every shop will be like ours or have a high percentage of recycled material. By then it won't be a big thing; it might not even be on the label.
"That's what the economy will be like and has to be like. It has to become a closed loop, with near to zero waste."
Recycling rates will eventually stall unless the market for recycled goods continues to grow. By opening the shop, Prof Curran, who now chairs the Scottish Sustainable Development Forum, said he would be doing more to help the environment than he did when he was advising the government on climate change.
He said his favourite item in the shop was Plaswood.
"It's a plastic equivalent of wood. All the nasty things about plastic can be turned to good use," he said.
"It's particularly good for outdoors, to build a gate or a garden hut, or create edging for raised beds. It will be there hundreds of years later. It's just not going to rot.
"When you get fed up with it, take it apart and put it in the recycling bin."
He tells enthusiastically how it is possible to saw Plaswood, hammer in nails and drive in screws, pretty much anything it is possible to do with wood.
There is a problem, however. "It hasn't sold. I guess traditional retailing advisers would say, 'That stuff is not selling, get rid of it, stock those shelves with the things you are selling large amounts of'," Prof Curran said.
"We're not going to do that. We're the only shop in the world stocking stuff like that. They are good products and we're going to stick with them. They are doing the right thing."
Fortunately, other items have proved popular. Entrading's stock of recycled umbrellas sold out and the shop is selling large amounts of "stunning" glassware, jewellery and recycled rugs as well as stationery, ring-binders and pencils. Eco- detergents are another Entrading stalwart.
"People always tell us it takes time in a business like this. We're complete newcomers to the retail trade and I'm not the most patient person," Prof Curran said.
"Things are more or less following our business plan. We're kind of nudging up towards breaking even, which a lot of people tell me isn't bad for a new, one-off business. There is nothing like it in the UK.
"It's an emotional roller-coaster. We have a bad day and you think nobody is going to come to our shop again; then you have a good day.
"In a year's time, we'll see whether it's working or not."
The full article contains 1445 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
